An electric convertible coupé? Now that is the definition of a “Californian Car”.

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4 years ago

Tesla Fan

I’ve never not wanted a Tesla before…

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4 years ago

jmac

I’m glad to see that Saab has begun to sell EVs in Sweden. Good..

This question is slightly off topic but from time to time I go up to the Tesla Motors fan blog thread that traces assigned Vin Numbers.

I was surprised to see recently that the latest confirmed Model S Vin number is #52988 to be delivered in September this year in the LA area.

Counting up Tesla sales in the U.S. so far gives us a total of 28,200. This leaves some 24,788 cars unaccounted for. Some of these have been sold in Europe, several thousand, perhaps at the very most 10,000 What has happened to the other 14,788 cars ?

I have followed the Tesla Vin assignments website and it does not appear that Tesla is assigning Vin numbers at random or is staggering them. Vin assignments appear to follow a regular simple numerical progression.

Of course Tesla has a lot of cars for test drives and loaners that are not included in those numbers and receive a VIN. That shouldn’t account for all of the missing ~14000 cars at current production levels (7500 / quarter), but if they are able to double the rate this would fit quite well.

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4 years ago

jmac

To mutle,

Thanks for digging up the Europe and China figures.. If you add up Model S sales in Europe, China and the U.S., it comes out to 38,981 sales.

If you add in crash test cars, loaners, demonstration models, right hand drive cars, etc.. that might account for perhaps another 2000 vehicles. That would put total Model S sales (deliveries) that can actually be accounted for at 41,971.

The latest Vin number published is 52988. If you subtract the known deliveries from the highest assigned VIN number, you still have 14,007 cars unaccounted for.

14,000 is quite a few….

But, it’s all good news. If Tesla does indeed assign Vin Numbers in serial order, that means that Tesla has sold or pre-sold about 53,000 Model S. Not too shabby !!!

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4 years ago

Omar Sultan

IIRC, when Tesla started assigning European VINs, they were out of sequence with US VINs, so it seems they do (or did) them in blocks.

O

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4 years ago

jmac

@ Omar.

Yes, I think Tesla does assign them in blocks, so that all vehicles in a single production run can be manufactured together. This caused some people who had lower Vin Numbers to get their cars “out of order” and delivered a good bit later than others with a much higher Vin number.

That being said, it still appears that the serial numbers are in fact assigned whenever someone orders (reserves) a car and that they are assigned in numerical order, even though someone who reserved after you did, may actually get their car before you do.

If the serial numbers go: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7, etc., then a Vin of 52,988 suggests that Tesla has sold or presold 53.000 Model S.

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4 years ago

jmac

Duh….I screwed up the math.

Known Model S deliveries subtracted from the latest known VIN works out to be 11,017 not 14,000.

It would be interesting to know where the next 10,000 or so pre ordered Model S are headed.

It does appear that Tesla’s Vin Numbers are in fact assigned serially, one after another.

Anyone interested in following the Model S Vin assignments on the Tesla Forum, here’s the link…

Tesla sells 4000 a month. Delivery in the end of september mean two more months of sales = 8000 cars accounted for.
+there are probably always 2-3000 in transit on container ships going for europe and asia which looks like “lost” cars since they don’t count until a month or two later.

= 11k… *tada*

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4 years ago

jmac

Reply to Mikael’

Yes, I think you’re right, After massaging the numbers, I came to pretty much the same conclusion as you did.

There are a number of vehicles in transit aboard cargo ships and so on.

Bottom line is that Tesla is issuing VINs in sequential order. In other words, the reported Tesla Vin Numbers are for the most part accurate and reflect actual Tesla sales and/or pre-sales.

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4 years ago

Braben

Ugh. What’s with those terrible B pillars in the video?

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4 years ago

Spec9

I want them. Keep the roll bar.

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4 years ago

Spec9

Meh. I’d rather wait for a factory convertible instead of an expensive clumsy after-market conversion.

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4 years ago

Tom

I’ll bet the frame jiggles like jelly….

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4 years ago

Mint

Yeah, the flat floor of the Tesla is far worse for convertibles than a reinforced drivetrain tunnel in ICEs.

I hope NCE did something clever to stiffen the chassis up.

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4 years ago

EvDeath

That’s exactly what’s needed another 1000 lbs to recapture the strength in an already overweight car.

This one won’t break in two it will fold in half.

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4 years ago

Foo

The side-view pictures of the white convertible and ragtop show the Model S prototype body style, not the actual production body style.

Doesn’t anybody notice these things?

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4 years ago

Steven

No.

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4 years ago

Aaron

I’m waiting for the massive torque to twist those convertibles into pretzels.